The Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi’s decision to file a review petition in the Supreme Court against the recent order empowering States to sub-categorise Scheduled Caste (SC) communities, after welcoming the judgement initially, to provide reservations has again turned the focus on the impact it could have on forging a potent political formation of the SC communities in Tamil Nadu.
Speaking to The Hindu, D. Ravikumar, general secretary and Villupuram M.P., said the overall reservations for SC communities were not proportional to their population, while the sub-classified communities, such as the Arundhathiyar community, have been given internal reservations proportional to their population within the SC community.
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“Our prayer is that the judgment should be reviewed in the open court and by a larger Bench such as the nine-Bench judge that heard the Indira Sawhney case. Until then, the judgment should be stayed,” Mr. Ravikumar said.
Data sought
The M.P. said while the Supreme Court had given the States the right to provide internal reservations after sub-classifying the communities within the SC list, it had to provide quantifiable data to prove it.
“The State government has to prove that the community [being given internal reservations] is a deprived community and that the internal reservation that is being given doesn’t affect other communities by producing quantifiable data. With respect to internal reservations given to the Arundhathiyar community, the State government has to provide data that proves that the Arundhathiyar community is the most deprived community among 76 communities, of which 35 communities have less than 1,000 people, two communities don’t have any population, and 15 communities are specific to certain districts, within the Scheduled Caste list. The Janardhanan Commission has determined that Arundhathiyar community is the most deprived compared only to the numerically stronger Devendrakula Vellalar and Adi Dravidar/Paraiyar communities, and not to all communities, especially the numerically smaller communities within the SC list,” Mr. Ravikumar argued.
The review petition also challenges the fact that the internal reservations provided to a community/communities within the SC list cannot be proportional to its population when the total reservations for the SC communities are not proportional to their overall population.
“Either the overall percentage of reservations should be increased or the reservations cannot be proportional to population,” he said.
Similarly, Puthiya Tamilagam president K. Krishnasamy said he had demanded that the backlog vacancies be filled first before the 3% internal reservations for the Arundhathiyar community within the Scheduled Caste communities when it was announced, but instead the community was given preferential treatment.
“This has resulted in a situation in which...if there is just a single vacancy, it is being filled by an Arundhathiyar candidate. The Supreme Court order has said that reservations can be given, but nowhere has it said that preference should be given. It is unfortunate that unwanted events are happening, such as communities within the SC list criticising and attacking each other, instead of fighting for reservation rights as a whole,” he said.
Dr. Krishnasamy said the other communities within the SC list should not be put at a disadvantage in the name of uplifting one community and that Chief Minister M.K. Stalin must engage all stakeholders to find a solution.
However, R. Athiyamaan, founder and president, Aathi Thamizhar Peravai, said the review petition filed by VCK, demanding a stay on the judgement, belied Mr. Thirumavalavan’s public support to the reservations for Arundhathiyars within the SC quota.
“We fully support and demand sub-classification of the entire 18% within Scheduled Castes and provide them with reservations,” he said.
Mr. Athiyamaan said the State government should come out with a white paper on the representation of Arundhathiyars in jobs and education before and after the implementation of 3% reservations for the Arundhathiyars.
“Such a white paper would expose all these arguments against the internal reservations. We support filling up of backlog vacancies and increasing reservations proportional to the population,” he said.
Mr. Athiyamaan said his party was against the review petition being filed by the VCK. The party would expose the VCK by organising public meetings and rallies.
